Hasta La Gadget!

Jawbone has given its life-tracking Up bracelet a second chance. The original was promising, but had a sky-high failure rate. The new band, Jawbone hopes, will fix the massive problems of the original, and deliver on its equally massive potential. More »

Apple added the Nike+ FuelBand to its online store this morning, with two new colors and availability not only in the U.S., but in the U.K. and Canada, too. In addition to Apple Store shelves, the FuelBand will also be available via Nike’s online and physical retail stores in those countries in the new colors. For Canadians, this is the first time Nike’s fitness tracking accessory has been available domestically from a non-gray market source.

For those who aren’t familiar with the device, it’s designed to measure a wearer’s daily activity and produce a score, called NikeFuel, that represents how much they’ve accomplished throughout the day, regardless of activity type. You can also check out time, calories and steps for more traditional measures on the device’s digital readout, and use an iOS app to keep track of your progress as a whole. It works with the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5, as well as 3rd generation or later iPod touch devices.

The $150 (£129 in the U.K.) is designed to help Nike capitalize on the recent trend of personal activity trackers, including the Fitbit line and short-lived, but briefly popular Jawbone Up. While reviews of the FuelBand are mixed (many say it isn’t accurate enough for real training), it’s more aimed at providing a casual motivator for workouts than helping build a fitness regimen for professional athletes, and in that capacity, it seems to do fairly well.

Apple CEO Tim Cook seemed to be wearing a Nike+ FuelBand on stage at Apple’s recent iPad mini unveiling, perhaps foreshadowing today’s news. Whatever the case, the FuelBand and its popularity is good for Apple and the growing role of its devices as personal health and safety tools, so it makes sense to see it added to official Apple retail channels.

Last month we reviewed the Fitbit Zip, which was basically a glorified pedometer. The Fitbit One is the Zip’s big brother, and successor to the very popular Ultra line. Is the feature-filled gadget worth a hundred bucks? More »

There’s no shortage of fitness apps to track how much (or how little) you’ve been shaking your tail feather lately — such as MyFitnessPal, Endomondo and GAIN Fitness to name three we’ve written about lately. And if you don’t want to strap your phone to your arm and baste it in sweat, there are even a few dedicated fitness-friendly gizmos, such as Apple’s Nike + iPod in-shoe system, Nike’s Fuelband wristband or Motorola’s MotoACTIV. But none of these devices are especially intelligent — they tend to track total steps, distance, calories, and that’s about it (unless you start adding additional accessories such as heart-monitor chest straps).

Enter Amiigo: a fitness app and lightweight plastic bracelet (with detachable shoe-clip) that can identify the type of exercise you’re doing and tell you how well you’re doing it as you’re doing it, thanks to a variety of sensors analysing how your body is responding as you run, bike, swim (yes it’s waterproof), or whatever your preferred exercise poison.

Amiigo’s gesture-based software algorithms identify the different types of exercises you’re engaged in — and should improve over time as the software learns more about your movements, according to the startup. Having both a bracelet and a shoe clip helps its system distinguish between a pull-up and a bicep curl, say, although you don’t always have to wear both. To generate real-time fitness data, the hardware includes a variety of sensors that track variables such as your heart rate. The device includes motion sensors/accelerometers to track how you’re moving, plus an infrared sensor to monitor blood oxygen levels. The bracelet also incorporates a stainless steel plate to measure skin temperature.

Then the corresponding Amiigo iOS and Android apps allow you to view the data, set fitness goals and custom challenges, share workouts in real-time (which won’t be at all annoying…) and accrue fitness points for bragging rights and/or the chance to redeem them against discounts on fitness gear.

The startup reckons no one else in this space is doing gesture recognition to track activity type and response in such granular detail — at least not using just one main wearable device — which in turn allows it to provide detailed feedback via the app in order to act as a virtual personal trainer.

The startup is kicking off an Indiegogo on October 29 with the aim of raising $90,000, and hopes to be ready to ship in April 2013. First taker backers will be able to snag the device for an extremely tasty price of $89, after which it will be sold for $119 — which is still pretty neat considering it undercuts some of Amiigo’s less-capable competitor devices.

Also neat: Amiigo will be releasing an SDK for the device so app makers can explore additional uses. The startup tells me it could envisage various alternative use-cases for the hardware, such as enhanced patient care monitoring or chronic care monitoring, or — tapping up the Wii-style motion sensors inside Amiigo — even gaming scenarios.

The startup has been working on the device for around 10 months so far — with a core team of four, including “tech talent” from MIT.

Activity bracelets and other fitness gadgets are a great way to get motivated to get into shape. Instead of relying on paltry humans, your love for gadgets will keep you running when the lactic acid starts to settle into your legs! Well, that might still be a pipe dream, but check out Lark’s latest release. It’s kind of like a minimal version of the Nike+ FuelBand.

The LarkLife will track your activity, from sleep patterns to food intake using a bracelet and a mobile app. For now, this will work only with iOS devices. It’s not waterproof, but splash-resistant, and has a pedometer inside to count your steps. It will be able to measure how long you sleep and how long it takes you to go to sleep. There’s a vibrating alarm built-into this band as well.

Just like other bracelets, you have to manually enter your food intake, which is a bit of a downer in my book, but the band uses Bluetooth Smart to automatically sync with your iPhone. It can also tell whether you’re running or walking, meaning that the app will log workouts even if you forget to enter them. The device will dish out advice during the day and reward “good behavior” with badges. It’s available for pre-order from Lark for $150(USD) and will be available before the holidays.